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‘Christians have been warned’ Koran offers no protection from ISIS, says historian

Monday, August 8, 2016

By Paul Martin

CHRISTIAN communities face being massacred in Syria and Iraq at the hands of Islamic State fighters who have revised their reading of the Koran to legitimise the systematic slaughter of religious minorities, an eminent historian has warned.

ISIS militants have brutally murdered thousands of Yazidi men, women and children during their two year reign of terror in the Middle East.

But until now Christians have been afforded more protection in exchange for the pillage of their belongings and their willing subordination to ISIS affiliated militants.

However, London-based historian and author Tom Holland said the terror group’s approach to non-Muslims had radically changed in recent months.

Mr Holland, who specialises in classical and medieval history, argued that ISIS now regarded Christians as pagans, having once considered them ‘people of the book’ who should not face the harshest punishments for their faith.

That means Christians could now face extermination on a similar scale to that suffered by other persecuted minorities living within the self-declared caliphate’s borders, including the Yazidis.